Courtney B. Vance To Co-Star In ABC Pilot ‘Warriors’

Courtney B. Vance is set co-star in ABC’s medical drama pilot Warriors, from writer Chris Keyser, Mandeville TV and ABC Studios. Inspired by the Walter Reed Military Medical Center, Warriors follow the best and brightest active-duty military doctors and nurses as they practice trailblazing medicine. Vance will play Navy Lt. Hennessey Fiske, an orthopedic surgeon with a specialty in neurology, a resident genius who can build anything including and special wheelchairs and prosthetics for the many young soldiers who come home minus their limbs. This marks the first collaboration between Keyser and Vance, who were in the same class together at Harvard. “Although I didn’t know Courtney in school, I’ve followed his career with the pride of a classmate,” Keyser said. “It’s only taken me 25 years to find the perfect part to bring to him. For this part of Dr. Fiske, Courtney was our first and only choice.” I hear Vance was the first actor approached for Warriors, though his deal was not the first to close. In the pilot, he joins recently cast Eloise Mumford. Vance, repped by Gersh, Lighthouse Entertainment, and attorney Darrell Miller, is coming off a Tony Award last year for the Broadway production of Lucky Guy opposite Tom Hanks. He also recently did an arc on ABC’s Revenge and was in the pilot for USA’s Graceland. Warriors is exec produced by Keyser, writer Steven Baigelman, David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Laurie Zaks. Martin Campbell is directing.